Smoke
by April3
Summary: Karen walks home from work and ends up having a conversation with a certain Sakurazukamori.


~Disclaimers: Obviously neither one of them belong to me. That is all. ] ~

Tonight had been Karen's turn to close up the shop. She had done so very hurriedly and somewhat angrily. Work had not been the distraction it had promised to be. She kept thinking about her worthless life, the battles to come, and the absolute pointlessness of it all. She walked briskly down the alley taking a shortcut to avoid dealing with anyone else.

Lady Luck, however, had a cruel sense of humor, Karen decided when she heard a series of soft footsteps behind her. She spun around, fists clenched and stared up as her "stalker." He smirked and presumably stared back at her from behind his sunglasses.

"What do you want?" she managed to say in a neutral tone.

Though it wouldn't be too hard to figure out what the Sakurazukamori would probably want. A fight no doubt. But cornering her in an alley was pretty low even for someone like him.

He smiled good-naturedly, shrugging slightly. "Do you have a light?"

Karen blinked. "What?"

He reached into one of the pockets of his trench coat and pulled out a cigarette. "A light."

"You came all this way to ask me for a light?"

She frowned as he chuckled.

"Let's say that I just happened to be in the neighborhood."

She glanced at his other hand, still buried in the other pocket of his coat and nodded. She really didn't want to know.

She sighed not in the mood to be toyed around with by the Angel now standing in front of her.

"I hate to ask you a third time for such a simple request," he said.

She watched as he twirled the cigarette between his fingers.

"Fine." She raised one hand and watched him indifferently as a small flame rose from each of her fingertips. The Sakurazukamori leaned in and lit his cigarette. Karen moved away quickly.

"Satisfied?"

"Thank you,' he said with a nod.

He didn't leave though. She watched him smoke for a bit growing somewhat impatient with his lingering presence.

"Anything else you want?" she asked politely hinting that he should leave.

"Nothing at all. I'm just taking a break to smoke."

"A break from what?"

He shrugged. She shook her head as he raised the cigarettes to his lips again. "Don't you ever just take a break."

It was her turn to shrug. "Some of us don't get that luxury."

"Nonsense. Everyone takes break," he paused to smoke again. "Even pretty girls."

She blushed and was instantly annoyed with herself and him.

"Oh, where are my manners? I don't believe we have been formerly introduced," he said with a smirk that was somewhat unnerving.

"There's no need--"

"I insist. It would be rude of me to do otherwise," with a grin he added, "and my mother raised me better."

That threw her off for a moment. The idea of him having a mother made her laugh and him shrug. She recovered herself quickly and cleared her throat. "Fine then. I'm Karen Kasumi."

"Seishirou Sakurazuka."

Seishirou finished off his cigarette and they shook hands. Karen hoped that this didn't mean his break was over and now he was going to try and kill her. That was the last thing she needed.

Instead, he held out another cigarette which she lit while he chuckled. She wouldn't have minded it so much if she had been able to see his eyes.

"I'll walk you home," he offered magnanimously as though she had been the one to propose the idea.

"I'll be fine by myself."

"I insist."

Karen wondered what he wanted now. 

To see where Subaru lived? Though for some reason she highly doubted that he didn't know. 

To kill her? It seemed unlikely. Why put in so much effort into something like that? 

To see her home safely? Feh. Right. Because there were so many other dangerous supernatural men that would want to kill her along the way.

There didn't seem to be any reason to be too worried. She wondered if it was due to low self-esteem but shrugged the thought away. He offered her his arm and she took it.

She stared over at him as her stared up at the sky. He certainly was an odd one. She mused that they all were. The only possible sane, normal one among them was Seiichirou.

Something about the Sakurazukamori made her sad. It made her wonder if his nonchalance wasn't some sort of ruse. For boredom perhaps? Or was he just like a panther at the zoo, destined for unhappiness and eager for the end?

Seishirou wasn't about to say anything anymore than Subaru would have on how he was feeling. Subaru was much easier to read though.

"You never did say why you were taking a break," she said as they continued walking.

He looked straight ahead and shrugged.

"Who was your mother?"

"A beautiful woman."

"You don't talk very much--"

"Except when I'm trying to be clever."

"Is that what you're taking a break from?"

He frowned slightly and she wondered what expression his eyes held if any. The lingering silence made her uncomfortable. She was the first to look away.

"You're ruining my break," Seishirou said, his tone hinting at amusement.

"Was I supposed to entertain you?"

A shrug again. "Why don't you take breaks?"

"Because there's only so many break a person can take before they realize that even breaks don't halt their lives or their fates."

He stopped walking.

She wondered why she had said that to him. Blinking she then tried to figure out if the minute movement of his head indicated a nod or if that was simply her imagination.

"Death is the only break then?"

The tone seemed different somehow, more like a child than the smartass he had been earlier. She wasn't sue if she had been supposed to hear it but still...

"That's...one way to look at it."

A morbid way but wasn't that when she planned on slowing down? On taking a break herself? When she was dead? Would she have to wait until then to truly enjoy everything? 

She sighed unhappily. "Can I have a cigarette?"

"It's a bad habit."

"Why do you smoke then?"

"I'm a creature of habit."

The smirk was back, she noted as he presented her with a cigarette. She let go of his arm and lit it.

"My break is almost over," he said casually as he watched her. She imagined it was his polite way of saying goodbye.

"Okay."

He held out another cigarette and waited for her to light it.

"Useful ability."

"Yeah, I'm a human cigarette lighter."

He bowed slightly grinning. "Goodbye then."

"Goodbye."

She found herself patting his shoulder in a gesture of farewell as she put the cigarette to her lips.

"Maybe I'll see you again next time I need a light....or a break."

"If you like," she said trying to sound indifferent.

She watched him go and began to walk home. She found herself saddened at the thought that they probably never would talk again.

~FIN~


End file.
